Amendment13

media type="custom" key="3374642" || 1.The jaws of power are always open to devour, and her arm is always stretched out, if possible, to destroy the freedom of thinking, speaking, and writing.-John 2.Civil liberty can be established on no foundation of human reason which will not at the same time demonstrate the right of religious freedom. 3.Nobody can be exactly like me. Even I have trouble doing it. ||
 * Amendment 13 ||
 * Amendment Summary || The **Thirteenth Amendment** to the [|United States Constitution] officially abolished and continues to ban [|slavery] and [|involuntary servitude], except as punishment for a crime. It was adopted on December 6, 1865, and was then declared in a proclamation of [|Secretary of State] [|William H. Seward] on December 18. ||
 * Key amendment quotes
 * Date Proposed: || Proposed 1-31-1865 ||
 * Date Ratified: || Ratified 12-6-1865 ||
 * This amendment is currently alive or dead || It is alive. ||
 * Court cases about this amendment || Slavery in the United States was abolished by the Thirteenth Amendment. Its adoption was made possible by the [|confluence] of a variety of forces. One necessary element was the precipitate decline of slave‐state influence in Congress. The secession of most slave states in 1860 gave the free states almost complete control of the Union government. In the early 1860s, most members of Congress from the loyal states belonged to either the Republican or Union party, whose policies were influenced by the antislavery movement.

A second critical factor was the [|Civil War's] impact on the American concept of [|federalism]. Before 1861, the belief in states' rights sharply limited the potential scope of federal action on [|slavery]; only the most radical abolitionists advocated removing the authority of each state over slavery within its borders. Although ideas of states' rights remained a strong ideological influence even after the Civil War, by the end of the war Republicans were more receptive to an expanded federal role.

Nonetheless, Congressional approval of the amendment in 1865 came only after a protracted political struggle. Although the amendment passed easily in the Senate in 1864, during the Thirty‐eighth Congress Republicans lacked the required two‐thirds majority in the House of Representatives. When the House first considered the amendment in 1864, proponents were unable to attract the necessary Democratic votes. The Republican victory in the elections of 1864 changed the political dynamic, however. After that election, an intensive lobbying effort by the White House changed enough Democratic votes to allow the amendment to pass the House on reconsideration in 1865. In the same year, the Thirteenth Amendment became part of the Constitution after approval by the requisite number of state legislatures. Some of the ratifications came under duress; Congressional Republicans made clear to the legislatures of the ex‐Confederate states that ratification was necessary before readmission to full participation in the Union (see [|Constitutional Amending Process]).

Section 1 of the amendment specifically prohibits slavery and involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime. Section 2 grants Congress the authority to enforce the provisions of section 1. Even under the narrowest possible interpretation, the adoption of the Thirteenth Amendment was a major change in the American political structure. For the first time, federal law imposed a significant constraint on the power of the states to define the status of their own residents.

The precise scope of the change intended by the drafters was a matter of some debate during the[|Reconstruction] era and continues to be an issue on which scholars differ. Some contend that the drafters intended only to dissolve the master‐slave relationship [|per se], leaving all other state prerogatives untouched. Others argue for a broader reading, asserting that section 1 constitutionalizes an open‐ended, evolving concept of freedom or, at the very least, that section 2 grants Congress the authority to prescribe and protect the rights that differentiate a slave from a free person.

The Supreme Court's decision in the [|//Civil Rights Cases//] (1883) suggested that section 2 gave Congress the authority to outlaw “badges and incidents” of slavery as well as the institution itself. At the same time, however, the Court defined badges and incidents quite narrowly, holding that the Thirteenth Amendment gave Congress no power to reach private action generally (//United States v. Harris//, 1883) or to prohibit racial discrimination in public accommodations (//Civil Rights Cases//). Thus it is not surprising that for much of the twentieth century civil rights litigation focused almost entirely on section 1 of the [|Fourteenth] Amendment, which was adopted in 1868.

The Thirteenth Amendment made a dramatic reappearance in [|//Jones// v. //Alfred H. Mayer Co.//] (1968).//Jones// dealt with the interpretation of a statute that granted to all citizens the same property rights “as [are] enjoyed by white citizens.” The question was whether this prohibition—derived from the Civil Rights Act of 1866—prohibited private racial discrimination and whether Congress had authority to reach private action under the Thirteenth Amendment. The Court held that the statute did prohibit private discrimination, and that section 2 of the amendment granted Congress the necessary authority. Thus the Thirteenth Amendment reemerged as an important element of contemporary civil rights [|jurisprudence]. ||
 * Three or four pictures or diagrams that EXPLAIN your amendment || [[image:Adrian1.gif width="336" height="200" caption="http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:VRJcEOSlcNSccM:http://www.historicaldocuments.com/13thAmendment.gif"]]







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 * Interactive games, Purpose games, Activities,
 * Citation || 1."U.S. Constitution - Amendment 13 - The U.S. Constitution Online - USConstitution.net." __Index Page - The U.S. Constitution Online - USConstitution.net__. 01 Apr. 2009 .

2."National Constitution Center: Interactive Constitution." 01 Apr. 2009 .

3."13th amendment -." __Google Image Search__. 01 Apr. 2009 . ||
 * Five questions about Amendment facts on YOUR page || 1. When was the 13th amendment proposed?

2.Is the 13th amendment live or dead?

3. What is the 13th amendment?

4. When was the 13th amendment ratified?

5. What does the 13th amendment protect?

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